Floor fabric



Sept. 3, 1935. H. M. ASHBY 2,013,620

FLOOR FABR I C Filed March 6, 1931 mm M. fish/5y $51 vts/ Qbtmega I Patented Sept. 3, 1935 UNITED STATES FLOOR FABRIC Holdon M. Ashby, Albany, N. Y., assignor to F. C. Huyck & Sons, Rensselaer, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 6, 1931, Serial No. 520,624

1 Claim.

For a detailed description of the present form of my invention, reference may be had to the following specification and to the accompanying drawing, forming a part thereof.

My invention, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, relates to rugs, carpets, and other floorcovering fabrics.

It consists of a fabric for such purpose in which the basis of its strength, rigidity and nonfraying qualities is formed by extreme fulling or felting, while the weave merely serves as a base from which the fulled material is formed but is not relied on for the essential qualities mentioned above. A fabric of my type affords a rug which is seamless and reversible and can be made in endless lengths of any width and then cut into any desired size of individual rug or carpet without fraying at the edges. Or any rug or carpet which is too large for a particular room or apartment can be cut down to any desired area without injury or impairment. It may be used either side up, and can be washed or laundered. It also has superior resilience, giving a cushion efiect per unit of weight beyond that of most rugs or carpets while its resistance to wear also surpasses other floorfabrics. These characteristics have been demonstrated by actual experience, and this fabric has been adopted as a standard floor material by the manufacturers of the well known Kenwood blankets which have been on the market for twenty years and which are now to be paralleled by the fioor covering outlined above.

Referring to the drawing which shows the new material in section, for purposes of illustration,

A and B each represent a base-fabric, each woven from yarn or spun fibers. Said layers in themselves, are quite inadequate as regards strength and rigidity for service as fioor coverings. C represents the mass of integrated fibers which are worked up from the exposed surfaces of the yarns (preferably spun from animal fibers) and in the condition produced after extreme fulling or felting has integrated the mass to the required thickness, rigidity and strength.

The woven fabric treated as above mentioned by extreme fulling presents a non-fraying edge when'the fabric is cut, and rolls. down to a hard smooth surface on both sides.

The resulting material is also washable, will retain colors, is highly resilient and endures wear by abrading action of shoe-soles to a remarkable degree. Its resiliency affords a superior cushion effect, besides adding to the comfort and ease of walking thereon.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A floor covering comprising a plurality of independently woven layers of fabric, each layer of fabric consisting of weakly bonded woven spun 0 fibers, said covering being provided with an extremely fulled and felted portion consisting of integrated fibers of the exposed surfaces of said woven fabric layers, the integrated fibers of the adjacent fulled surfaces of said independently woven layers being intermeshed with each other so as to provide a homogenous union between the surfaces of said layers, said integrated fibers possessing substantial strength, rigidity and footwearing characteristics, said fioor covering being divisible into smaller sizes by cutting through the fabric in any direction, the bonded woven fibers and the felted portions with their integrated fibers being so relatively constructed and arranged that the fabric is non-fraying at its original peripheral edges and also at the edges produced by said cutting.

HOLDON M. ASHBY. 

